Direction-signal for automobiles.



H. G. CRAFT. D-mEcTlo'N SIGNAL Fon AUTOMOBILES. .APPLICATION fILED HAY 2. |91?I4 152% Patented oct. l15. |918L HHRRY G, CRHFTl y vide a construction of this character 1n HARRY GIBNEY CRAFT, o F cLAnxsDaLE, MIssIssIPPI.

DIRECTION-SIGNAL Fon AiJ'roMomLEs..

Specification of Letters iatent.

Application led May 2, 1917. Serial No. 165;987.

o all whom it may concern.' .Be it known that. HARRY G. CRAFT. a citi zen ot' the United States, residing at Clarksdale, in the county of Coahoma and-State of lilississippi has `invented certain new and Auseful"Improvements in Direction-Signals forv Automobiles, oii which the following is a sl'ieritication. reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to automobiles, and particularly to direction signals therefor.

The general object of the invention is 4to provide a very simple, easilvr loperated andV 4effective signaling proaching machines that he is about to turn either to the right or to the left. A further object of the invention is to prowhich signal or.semaphore-arms are pivotally mounted upon the slde wall of the car ai'idada1`ite`d to be turned from a vertical and" housed position to a horizontal anddisplay' position, by means of' actuating devices controlled by the driver.

A further object of the invention is to provide a housing 1Jfor each semaphore arin so 'constructed that the semaphore is protected from rain or snow and also providing an inconspicuous'support for the semaphore in its inoperative position.

A iurtherobject is form oisemaphore arm in which thev electric wires leading -to the electric bulb within the head ofthe semaphore arm are protected iromgrain and snow and` in thscoi'inection 4toprovideiniproved means for latching the use maphore armin its lowered position and break-in the circuit light bu b.

in the course of i for. g. coincidentall 7 Vthrough the electric Other. objects will appear wpanying drawings,

i My invention is illustrated in theaccor'nin which Figure 1 is a 'erspective view of a f'oen automobi e showing my vice-mounted thereon; 4

i Fi

por-tion thela'rrnl andthe adjacent portion 'o J housing;t

alix'. Referring p. Fig.{31sa transverse section througlutlie` ahead section andv adjacent portion of ally -dipes' heusms, desigdevice.v whereby' the driver of the niaclnne may indicate `to` apto `provide an improved the T-shaped arm 13. These wires swinging delfm'achine belowr the' foot'board B. one arm of g. 2 is a. cross sectional viewftlirougxlif:

f 't .e i

" I 'this bell crank lever transversely 4 drawings', ldpllrlicuf' mobile and .the inclined footboardC' tong? nated., generally 10, and mounted' inany suitable manner upon the side wall A of the conveniently made ofsheet vmetal riveted vto the wall of the car at a plurality of points. so as to 'make tliehousingthoroughlystrong. The housing is closed at its lower end .and at its upperenil. The interiorfof the housing is to 4be linedivith a sheet of rubber. or other lik`e cushioning. fabric. designated 11. and the side edges ot' the housing are alsoto be covered4 with rubherlxZ. l Pivotallv mounted within the'fupper end oi' the housing is a hollow arm 13, Vwhich is T-shaped in, cross section. of this arml being disposed outward o'fjthe rear end of the arin. IThe rear end of'the arinis pivotally connected to a rod 15. which extends downward at 'the rear of the housing and through the lower end therrof'and throughl the' t'oothoard B. "t the outer end 'of the arm 13; there is formed a casing or below the plane of thel arm 13'. so as'to pro- .rafcnfea oet; 15, 191s.

the pivot pin M .vide a relativeliY wideandrelativel')v "long signa-l. target having oppositelv disposed downwardliT convergent. side .-walls 17.

'.lhes'e side walls are preferably painted red.

or any other appropriate color. whichwill yattract attention. and .the 'side walls4 are 4iormedv with openings wherein are disposed lenses 18. these lenses .being preferably of red glass. Disposed within the housing or vtarget 16 Vthis lamp -lead out through the inner end ofl the housing or' target 16 'and `are preferablyv disposed 'beneath Vthe upper 'flange Vor lead to any suitable source of electrical-energvz'v;` .The

is a: lamp .19.` preferably an incan- -descent electrlc l-'a-mp. The wires 20"fro1n lower margins of both of the .de walls 17 are 'formed with openings 21for a purpose to be-later stated.

For'the purpose of operating each'seniaphore,I provide a bell crank lever 2'2. which 1s lpivotally mount' being operatively connected Ito the rodl, while the, other arm4 is pivotally connected to a rod 15", extendingl i beneath 4the floor of thelautol-4 po'sitfiox'rV adjacent theclutch pedals.`

ed upon the frameof the this rod'l. is connected to a bell crank level held Aup by a .obvious that'when pull down upon the rod, "land swing the" semaphore arm ,tol a horizontal positionl 23 yand operatively engaging Wlth one arm of this bell crank lever 1s a pedal 24 normally spring,.if desired. It will be the pedal 24 is depressed, it' will'rock the bell cranklevers l23. and '22',

where it will be plainly evident Ito machines advancing in either direction'. When the pressure on the pedal24 -is released, the arm A 13 will swing downward by gravity. It wlll -be noted thatthe'housing v,10 has. inwardly con'ver ent 'side walls and that .the lower ends o these side walls are outwardly eX- tended to a depth equal to the width of the walls 17 of the`target or lamp housing and thus when-'the arm 13 swings downward, the outer wall of this target or lamp housing and the outer flange of the T-shaped arm 13 will fit closely into the housing 10, so as to form afront walll thereto. The rubber linin-g or 'other cushioning material disposed within the housing 10 will cushion the jarincidenttothe movement of the semaphore into the housing. Furthermore thefron-t wall of the target 16 projects laterally beyond the sidewalls thereof, as at 25, and this `front wall and tlle outer flange of the T shaped arm 13 vContact with the side edges of the housing 10. .It w'l een that thus the semaphore is" fully pi c ted when in its inoperative -.position, that' rain cannot gain access to the 'interior'of t-he housing, and that the' semephore isrendere'd incons'picuous and `indeed more or less ornamental tothe .car itself.

' For the purpose' of holding the semaphore in its lowered position and 1n close engage- /ment with the housing '10, .I mount on the rear wall of the housing, adjacent its lower vend, 'the spring clamp or lookin which comprises a base 26 and two ivergent lspring actuated arms 27 having-detent-ends. -These' detent ends are adapted to engage in ,the openings 21 .formed in the side walls 17l ment witl the semaphore.

Preferably one of 'the clamping members "27 is also -used to break thecircult through the' signal light 19 when the arm-is in its loweredv position.` f This may be accomplished in a variety ofways.. I have illus-- .29 which is carried upon. one of the clamp- 'ing'.members 27 andwhlch vis connected in 26 is a contact m'emberBO from which' a wire r circuit with the' source of energy and the lamp 19. Mounted lin position upon the base "leads direc-tlfy to` the lamp. 4The contact member 29" may.` be insulated from the ."co`r lresponding 'c lampinginember. 27 in' any suitable manner andlI have shown'for this'nurof the target or lamp housing, the 1 device pose the clamping members asheing made ot insulating material. Now' when the members 27 are forced apart by tl l i will be electr1cally :disengaged from'the con- 'ta'ct 30 and breakft-he'circuit through the lamp. When, l1owever,-the lamp housing or targetis Withdrawn from between the members- 27, they will be caused: to close by the springs 31 and-the'col'italetfsv 29 and 30 will be brought into electricalv engagement with each other, thuscompleting the circuit through the lamp 19.

While I have illustrated a construction which I believe to be particularly effective, yet it is obvious that many minor changes might be made, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It will be seen that this signal eliminates the necessity of the driver projecting an arm, in order to indicate his intention' of turning the machine out of the straight path and that the driver of the automobile need not remove his'hands from the wheel, in order to actuate the signal and need .not actuate the signal at all, if for any reason he sees fit not to do so, as in a `very crowded street, where the semaphore arm might project too far. .Preferably the semaphore-target orvblade will be stamped out of sheet metal. i

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The combination with an automobile, of a vertically disposed housing mounted on the side wall thereof and having laterally divergent side walls, the lower ends of the side walls being relatively wide, a semaphore arm pivotally mounted inthe upper end of the housing, and T-shaped in cross section, a target mounted upon the outer end of the arm andl having inwardly convergent sidey walls to it within the side walls of theholu'sl ing, and manually operated means for Ishit/- ing ithe arm to a horizontal position.-

2,. The combination with an automobile,

of a 'vertically disposed .laterally opZ'ning housing mounted, on the side wa-ll'ther of, a semaphore pivotally connected` at its upper end tothe housing and movable from a vertically concealed positionto a horizontally display position, said semaphore including a hollow ,targethavinglenses, an electric light disposed Within the. target and connected incircuit with a source 'of lectrical energy, anda latch device yieldin hold'- ing the semaphore in a vertical position within the housing" andactin to b'reak the circuit-to said'electric lamp w en the semaphore is Vin a .vertical `position and closesaid circuit when the semaphore 1s ln'a hor1z`ontalv position.

3. The'combinati/ion` with an automobile, I

of a-vertically disposed laterally opening housing, a semaphore ivotally connected at its outer endl-to the ousing and. movable `at its outer end to the l light disposed `from a vertical concealed position to a horizontal position, the semaphore including a target, and oppositely disposed' latehing members mounted within the housing at its lower end and resiliently urged toward each other, the target havingl oppositely disposed recesses in which the latclnng member 1s en-` gaged when the target is within the housing. 4. The combination with an automobile,

of a vertically disposed laterally opening housing. a semaphore pivotally connected housing and lmovable from a verticalV concealed position to a horizontal position, the semaphore including a hollow target having lenses vandan electric within the target and connected 111 an interrupted circuit with an latching member 1s source of electrical energy, op'positely disposed latching members mounted within theV p hopsing at its lower end 4and resiliently urged toward each other,

` the target having oppositely disposed recesses in whichthe engaged lwhen the target is within the l1ousing,`a fixed Contact con-` nected in said 'light circuit. and a contact carriedbv one of said latching members and urged away from the fixed Contact when the target is engaged by the latch members but i engaging withI the fixed Contact when the Y target is removed from the housing. so 5. The combination with an automobile, of a vertically disposed laterally opening housing, a semaphore pivot-ally connected btlo .rounded outer ends engage-able in said re- 45 cesses when the target lswithin the housing, a rod passing through thel clamping members, and springs on the rod urgingr said` clamping members toward eachother.

In testimonvY whereof I hereunto aix'my 5o signature in the presence of tivo witnesses. HARRY GIBNEY CRAFT.

'itnesses:

R. LEA, R. \V. CHRISTMAN. 

